I am new: Interferon Treatment vs. Entecavir????

[ambiance3021]

I am 26 yrs old and contracted HBV vertically.  I am new to this site, but am due to start the pegylated interferon alfa-2a treatment (Pegasys) this Friday and am terrified of the side effects.  This treatment is usually used to treat HCV, but I have chosen it over the antiviral pills b/c of the lack of risk of viral tolerance and the dangers connected to skipping doses or quitting an antiviral pill treatment.

As I have read the forums related to HBV, I have not seen any posts regarding others who have chosen to go on this Pegasys treatment as I have.  I was wondering if any of you could please respond to my post in regards of whether or not you were ever offered Pegasys (interferon), and if you were offered, how you decided on the treatment option that you did.

I am a 3rd year full-time student doing a double major in Biology and Radiation Therapy.  Can anyone out there provide me with your personal experiences on Pegasys and whether or not you were able to continue with a busy schedule?  Am I being too optimistic to continue with even a 15 credit hr load?

[saritahemanth]

sure i am gonna talk to my doc ... :-)

[stef2011]

when you talk to the doctor be aware that most say:
"we wait for the resistance to make combination therapy if the test shows resistance we make combo"

of course this is totally bull**it nonsense, the combo must be used in order to prevent the resistance mutations once they happen there is no way back to the wild virus, so even if resitsance can be treated by combo it is best to prevent it

i suggest this so you know what to tell to the doctor, i too had to fhight to convince them on the combo......

[saritahemanth]

i am really thankful to you for guiding me ... :-) i am surely going to talk to my doc on all this ....sometimes i regret a lot for having this ... why me :-(  i donno how i got this where on this earth from??..but least what i can do is just to move on with this rest of my life ....

[stef2011]

what if i become resistant to tenofovir later??

there is no resistance to tenofovir only reduced response on one type of mutant from adefovir but even if reduced response most get hbvdna und

interferon doesn t work if hbsag is high it makes sense to use interferon only to clear hbv as add on to long time use of tenofovir or entecavir.tenofovir plus entecavir will rescue your immune system response in a few years use so that add on of intf may work

both hbeag and hbeab positive:
probably not a mutant, it can be a balance between hbeag and hbeab and even if it is the mutant it is not dangerous at all as long as hbvdna  is und and it is of course treatable

[saritahemanth]

check that hbeag becomes negative again on the combo.if both hbeag and hbeab remain positive this is another mutant, dont remember which one but it is not good for sure

means i will be at risk ?? if this is so then no treatment available??

it is best to take entecavir plus tenofovir and stop entecavir while you get pregnant (allow more than 6months on this combo).

what if i become resistant to tenofovir later?? and if i go to interferon after that and that to fails are there other options in medication ??

[stef2011]

it is best to take entecavir plus tenofovir and stop entecavir while you get pregnant (allow more than 6months on this combo).


my recent results were - hbeag positive ( which was negative for four yrs)
anti hbeag positive
check that hbeag becomes negative again on the combo.if both hbeag and hbeab remain positive this is another mutant, dont remember which one but it is not good for sure

hbsag 250 iu/ml
this is not hbeag quantity but the limit of abbott architect without diluition of your blood sample.the lab was so stupid and lazy to avoid the diluition and just tell you your hbsag is superior to 250iu/ml which is a totally useless information because if you have chronic hbv hbsag is in the thousands as 99,9% of hbv carriers
recheck hbsag with diluition